Theres [a] honesty and vulnerability that we see in Cloud, said Christian.
[And] I think theyre very powerful and relatable on such a human level.
Ive experienced things very much similar to what Cloud is going through in my real life.
Cloud Strife (Cody Christian) in Final Fantasy VII RebirthSquare Enix
And I dont wield the Buster Sword, and Im not fighting Shrina to save the world.
Im similar in a lot of ways where I could put this tough look on.
But the reality is if you talk to me, Im just goofy and corny.
Aerith (Briana White), Cloud (Cody Christian), Tifa (Britt Baron) inFinal Fantasy VII RebirthSquare Enix
I live a very boring, simple life.
I love working out, playing video games, telling stories and acting.
DEADLINE: Its been four years between the release of bothFinal Fantasy VII Remakeand the recent release ofRebirth.
Can you walk us through the journey of having played the titular character, Cloud Strife, thus far?
Because I got the phone call that was like, Hey, wed love to book you for this.
And also, by the way, here it is, and heres the project and heres the character.
It was all kind of thrown on me at once.
So that is its own part of the story.
Something I had to learn was being very limited.
Onscreen, I can just exist through my body language through a sign, look, or glance.
I can communicate emotions a lot.
I had an amazing camp of people that walked me through everything.
I credit this man all the time, and I really want to give him his flowers.
There was trust, comfortability and respect amongst the two of us from the very beginning.
The first couple sessions were pretty much me going in and hoping for the best.
The second game was a very different experience.
I was genuinely excited to get back into the booth and step into Clouds shoes again.
Because Ill be real with you, it was a lot of that in the beginning.
I knew how much this game meant to people; it was never lost on me.
DEADLINE: Cloud is one of the coolest iconic video game characters ever.
What is your take on Cloud, having played him this long?
Is he a loner with a soft heart or a rugged soldier through and through?
Theres been other exceptional talent that have lent their voices and abilities to bring him to life.
I just knew my iteration was to focus on the human side of this guy.
I wanted to focus more on just the core of who this person is.
That prompted me to do a deep dive and really understand, well, what was young Cloud like?
What was the pain there?
What was the trauma there?
The way I look at Cloud is hes very much a product of his environment.
Thats all a result of trauma.
But I think theres a confusion amongst himself.
Almost like imposter syndrome, Am I really who I think I am?
I love that there are moments too, where Cloud admits to being lost, confused and not knowing.
I think theyre very powerful and relatable on such a human level.
Ive experienced things very much similar to what Cloud is going through in my real life.
And I dont wield the Buster Sword, and Im not fighting Shinra to save the world.
So, its been a joy to play him because of how complex he is.
DEADLINE: Do you claim any similarities to Cloud?
CHRISTIAN:Theres a lot of similarities between Cloud and myself.
And I think thats the beauty of the character.
Im not going to take selfish claim over it.
Thats why hes become, in my opinion, such a fan-favorite character.
I smile a lot.
I crack a lot of jokes.
I dont take myself super seriously.
So, just like how the image is and how I really am, I think that theres layers.
I think people dont necessarily know the true Cloud until they get very, very, very close.
And part of that is because he doesnt necessarily allow it.
And Im similar in that way.
I appear to be one thing, but Im not all that.
I live a very boring, simple life.
I love working out, playing video games, telling stories and acting.
DEADLINE: There are so many iterations of Cloud inRebirth.
It was like the game suddenly turned into a full-blown horror movie.
CHRISTIAN:That scene with Aerith was by far my favorite out of everything just because of the performance.
That sinister side of Cloud doesnt really exist.
We hadnt really seen it.
Its not him; hes being controlled.
His mind is in different places.
And especially towards the people hes acting that way towards, Aerith, Tifa, et cetera.
So, it felt wrong doing that voice [laughs].
I would say hes a hero through and through.
But we dont ever get to see him not in control or unhinged.
And hes truly unhinged.
We get glimpses of it.
And it was so fun.
I would do maybe 15, 20, and I was really getting into it.
I think the most challenging was the Moogle bit for two reasons.
One, I can only say one word now, kupo.
And just the circumstances, I dont care how you look at it, theyre extremely goofy.
And Im like, All right, cool.
Well, what is it?
And they start giving me all the information.
Then, I saw the script in front of me on a little monitor.
And Im looking at 30 lines and its all one word.
And Im like, Did you guys fuck up?
Is this a mistake?
And they go, No, no.
This is all you might say.
It was so ridiculously funny because I had to do a different emotional inflection on every line.
Do you feel the joy in that one?
But it sounds too similar to the one where hes supposed to be annoyed.
All right, well, lets change the annoyed one a little bit.
So, it was a very meticulous process, and it was just hard to take seriously.
Because it is not a joke.
But for me, in the real-time reality of doing it, I felt so silly.
But that has been a joy of this second game, being able to do these wildly different things.
And you mentioned the Shakespearean theatre.
I was really in the booth posing.
I thought I was in a play for real, for real [laughs].
DEADLINE: You did such a good job in that Loveless play sequence.
yo talk about that.
The robotic Shakespeare coming out of Clouds mouth was hilarious.
CHRISTIAN:How this all works is we have a four-hour recording session.
Im just glad nobody gets to see what I look like when recording these things.
But sometimes its whats necessary.
And when I tell you I was posing, you know how Cloud looks during that whole sequence?
Thats what I look like recording the sequence.
I was really in there, all of my heart and soul.
DEADLINE: What is something you think would be surprising that people didnt know about voice acting?
You mentioned green apples earlier, but what else is specific to your process?
So, vocal quality matters.
When I started to get a little fry, I took a baby shot of whiskey.
Not enough to get sauced [laughs].
But just a tiny bit to wet the palate.
But that was more circumstantial to get us through [a tense] session.
I could hear everything.
These are just little tips of the trade that Ive picked up on session after session.
Now I feel very comfortable to just walk in and do my basic warmups and go for it.
But Im not the most technical guy either.
DEADLINE: Thats wild.
So much to think about when reading a line or two.
CHRISTIAN:You know whats the worst?
Obviously, its not anyones fault, and you cant do anything about it.
Its something that never needs to be heard directly [laughs].
Is there anything that you find particularly endearing about playing him?
In that circumstance, you just painted, right?
Nobody would really say that, but he will, and he does.
And hes so true and true to himself.
And thats something that I really idolize about the guy.
I think his one-liners are the best.
I think his responses to Barret are some of the best in the game.
Not interested is a big one for me fromRemake.
This goes back to the first question you asked me.
I think it was one of the first lines I ever recorded.
Cloud in the Avalanche search party, and Clouds line is, Different reactor, different layout.
Depends when it was built.
Never seen one like this, but Ill manage.
And I dont know why, but that is so cemented into my mind.
Its my anchor, so to speak, to keep me in the Mecca of Cloud.
